About Magpie Chronicles
Many years ago I was a mid-weight strategist at an agency called blue hive in Shanghai. I thought I wanted to move on to a new agency, and so I was interviewing around.
Advertising is a small world and even smaller in Shanghai. I networked my way to a sit-down with an ALL CAPS FAMOUS PLANNER named Rob Campbell. he blogs. he's smart. he knows it.
During our chat, he took a sly shot at me, probably because he was already bored of the conversation. While my memory is foggy, he told me: there are two types of planners those who go deep, find those true insights, push clients, etc. y'know, him. Then there are "magpies" who grab a little from here, a little from there, and spit out something mediocre. y'know, me.
It was a valid criticism at the time, or at the least the work I was doing. It stuck with me all these years because it seems an astute description of me in general. I like shiny things. I am a collector of interesting things, interesting facts, interesting people.
So I steer into the spin – I think gathering little bits of shiny things to make a collection is, of itself, a skill. So here is my retro - future experiment in starting link blog / newsletter for the shiny things I find.
I did google magpies and discovered that magpies don't steal shiny things. But never let the truth get in the way of a good story.